Driverless cars. High-speed trains. Fewer flights. The nature of intercity transportation is changing, and Megan Ryerson is on the cutting edge of it. Dr. Ryerson’s work involves optimizing air and vehicular transportation to make them safer, less expensive, and more efficient from the passenger perspective. Her models analyze how these future technologies could change the way humans choose the way they travel between cities, and how possibility new vehicle technology could lead to more highway traffic and empty airports.

A professor at the Penn School of Design and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Ryerson conducts research on optimizing transportation efficiency and future vehicle technologies. Ryerson is also a research director of the Mobility21 team, which was recently awarded $14 million from the US Department of Transportation to improve mobility and safety in transportation in the 21st century.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx